Bronchoscopy, esophagogastroduodenoscopy and transesophageal echocardiogram are widely used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes by different specialists everyday. Patients undergoing those procedures require intravenous anesthetics to maintain deep sedation with spontaneous ventilation. Currently nasal cannula is used for this purpose. However, nasal cannula does not generally provide adequate oxygen levels, especially in the case of patients who are prone to be mouth breathers, when instruments are inserted in the mouth. Such patients often experience oxygen desaturation during this and similar procedures.
On the other hand, currently used oxygen face masks would provide oxygen retention to reach adequate oxygen level inside the mask by completely covering both mouth and nose, but such face masks do not provide access for instruments to enter through the mask into airways, trachea, the esophagus and gastrointestinal (GI) tracts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,158, issued to Tirotta on Jul. 11, 1995, provide an endoscopy breathing mask having a hollow bite block to accommodate introduction of an endoscope. However, the elongated bite block significantly increases friction of the instrument and interferes with the endoscopist's performance. It doesn't allow multifunction access to mouth and nose: that is, for the introduction of several different instruments for different purposes, such as fiber optic bundles for viewing, cutters, clamps, etc., and for procedures requiring the suctioning of secretion or blood at the same time. Furthermore the bite block isn't practical for use after the procedure, when the patient is conscious, due to the patient's discomfort with oral bite block in place.
However, nothing in the design of the present device would prevent the use of a bite block if desired, and a bite block is included in an alternative embodiment.
In sum, none of the currently existing devices discloses or suggest all of the features provided and claimed by present device and method.